{"id":9333,"date":"2014-04-09T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/?p=9333"},"modified":"2024-01-16T17:23:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T17:23:36","slug":"why-standing-out-like-a-sore-thumb-is-good-for-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/why-standing-out-like-a-sore-thumb-is-good-for-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Why standing out like a sore thumb is good for your business"},"content":{"rendered":"

68% of your customers have no idea why they should choose you<\/h2>\n

The important thing is that there aren’t too many businesses that stand out in the mind of your customer. And that means that your business has to be known for SOMETHING.<\/p>\n

Our brains want context, they want a story, they need something, anything to hang on to so that they can make sense of and remember useful information. \u00a0This is all because our brains are efficiency machines. The human brain is always looking for the shortest distance between two points so that it doesn’t have to evaluate and re-evaluate every single decision and action. And this is why segmentation<\/a>, targeting, differentiation and competitive advantage come in.<\/p>\n

You can’t sell anything to everybody<\/h2>\n

The biggest mistake small business owners make is thinking that everyone can use their product or service, and if they limited or focused their marketing message, they would miss out on valuable customers. This is a mistake. In fact, the opposite is true. When you focus your message on a single audience or audience benefit, customers come out of the woodwork — and that gives you a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s define what I mean by competitive advantage. A competitive advantage is that objective fact about you that sets you apart from everyone else in that field.\u00a0 Being the \u201cyoungest\u201d person to achieve or complete something is a great example. Another excellent real-life example comes from New York Times Crossword aficionado Rex Parker, who claims to be the\u201d 44th Greatest Crossword Puzzle Solver in the Universe\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0He doesn\u2019t say how he got this phrase, but I can only imagine that he competed in an event and came in 44th<\/sup>.\u00a0 That was the truth, and no one else could claim that spot.\u00a0 That\u2019s the competitive advantage for a personal brand.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in Customer Experience topics, we think you might enjoy reading: The five pillars of customer experience<\/a><\/p>\n

Build your business competitive advantage<\/h2>\n

Have you given any thought to how you might apply this concept of competitive advantage to set your brand apart from others?\u00a0 Here are some steps you can take today to build a competitive advantage for your personal brand and give people a real and concrete reason to choose YOU.<\/p>\n